Jack Elway – Famous Father/Son Sports Duos

Growing up as the son of a sports star cannot be easy, everywhere you go and everything you do will be compared to whatever your father has done before you. For many sons of famous fathers however they decided that they would not only face these comparisons in their daily lives, but they would go on to enter the World of sport and run the risk of facing huge amounts of pressure to achieve something similar or better than what their father did before them.

Today we are going to take a look at some of these brave young men who took the risk of following in their fathers footsteps, and achieved great things.

The Elways

Jack Elway was a hot prospect during his college playing days before he was hit with an injury that ended his career. Not wanting to give up the game he went into coaching and became one of the most widely respected college coaches that there has ever been as well as being a successful scout for the Denver Broncos. Son John Elway would go on to surpass the success of his father in a big way and after being picked at number 1 in the draft by the Denver Broncos, Elway junior would spend his career at the franchise winning 2 Super Bowls before going on to coach the outfit to a further 2 Super Bowl Championships.

The Hills

Graham Hill was one of the greatest racing drivers of his generation he won 2 World Championships in Formula One and became the only driver ever to win the Le Mans 24 Hour, the Indy 500 and an F1 title in the same year. Sadly Hill died in 1975 after an air crash and 5 year old son Damon was inspired to follow his dad’s success. Damon would go on to become one the greatest drivers of his generation and also won two F1 titles, the only son of a champion to ever do so and a man who could have won even more had he not been racing at the same time as one of the greatest to have ever sat behind the wheel, Michael Schumacher.

The Mannings

No family has had an impact on a particular sport in quite the ay that the Mannings have had on pro-football. Archie Manning was a fantastic college player who despite being picked up by the NFL after college, never quite achieved the same success that he had found in his youth. Manning’s sons Peyton and Eli, didn’t suffer from the same problem as their father and the two have gone on to redefine the role of the quarterback. Peyton is widely considered to be the greatest quarterback to have ever played the game and between him and his brother, the Mannings have racked up 4 Super Bowl wins. The Mannings have no become the benchmark of success in football and their names are littered throughout the record books for both the league and their respective franchises.